REO

With July’s decline, the cash sales share has fallen year-over-year every month since January 2013, a total of 31 consecutive months, according to CoreLogic. July 2015’s reported share of 30.8 percent was a dropoff from the share of 34.2 percent reported in July 2014. As has historically been the case, REO sales made up 56 percent of cash sales in July 2015, and resales had the second highest share at 30.2 percent.

Sales of distressed residential properties (REOs and short sales) continued heading toward their "normal" levels with another substantial year-over-year decline in July 2015, according to distressed sales data released by CoreLogic on Thursday.

Though more than a quarter of REO sales were cash transactions in June, REO sales made up only about 6 percent of total home sales during the month. During the peak month of January 2011 for cash sales, REO properties made up about 23.8 percent of all home sales.

Members of the Five Star Institute's Federation of Certified REO Experts (FORCE) gathered from all over the country last week for the FORCE rally at the 2015 Five Star Conference and Expo in Dallas for a day of exclusive academics and networking opportunities.

At the REO Lab at the 2015 Five Star Conference and Expo on Friday in Dallas, industry experts discussed how to get ahead and stay informed and equipped to take on the new REO marketplace.

The former plan to engage code enforcement in order to avoid citations from the city was for servicers and field services providers to make a pitch to the city officials in which the property was located. But the cities are in a different position because revenues are down due to lower property values.

REO sales are down by 80 percent from their peak six years ago, but there are still plenty of affordable buying opportunities for homebuyers, according to a commentary by Chris Bowden, Freddie Mac's SVP of HomeSteps, the GSE's real estate sales unit.

REO sales accounted for 6 percent of total home sales in June, which was the lowest level since September 2007 when they made up 5.2 percent of all home sales in the country. REO sales hit their peak in January 2009, when they accounted for 27.9 percent of all home sales. According to CoreLogic, the continued shift away from REO sales is driving home price appreciation, since REO properties typically sell at a larger discount than short sales do.

May 2015's cash sales share of nearly 32 percent was down by 31 percent from the peak of 46.5 percent recorded in January 2011. CoreLogic estimates that if the cash sales share continues to decline at the same rate as it did in May 2015, the cash sales share should fall back down to its pre-crisis level of 25 percent by the middle of 2017.

Of that 9.9 percent distressed sales share reported for May 2015, REO sales accounted for 6.4 percent of all home sales, the lowest share for REO since October 2007, when it was reported at 6 percent.